10 Things That Should Never Go Down the Drain

Your household drain system isn’t a lot of things. It’s not a garbage can, a toxic waste disposal or a recycling receptacle. Drains are designed to accommodate certain liquids and some liquefied or finely-pulverized solid materials. Anything that falls outside those specifications may cause a nasty clog and/or damage or deteriorate your plumbing. This, in turn, will necessitate the services of a professional plumber to resolve the problem at your expense.

It’s simpler—and less expensive—to keep things that don’t belong in your drains out of your drains in the first place. Here’s a list of the top 10 usual suspects:

Grease and fat. They may go down as a liquid but they harden in your pipes and cause an accumulation of sludge that eventually triggers clogs. Throw it out with the regular trash.

Coffee grounds. Inside your pipes they accumulate at the lowest point in the household plumbing, causing blockages. Dispose in the trash.

Paper towels and most other paper products. With the exception of toilet paper, any paper that goes down drains does not decompose and will cause a pipe blockage.

Rice and pasta products. These foods do not disintegrate but swell inside your pipes, eventually obstructing flow of waste water.

Hair. It’s another ingredient of the sludge that forms inside plumbing and causes clogs. Place hair strainers over drains.

Bath salts. Unless the label specifically states that the product fully dissolves, assume that it doesn’t and don’t let it flow down drains.